Content Development

Whether I’m writing a song, working on a blog, or creating curriculum, it should come as no surprise that I’m kinda geeky about content development! I’m energized by the strategy involved in creating strong, applicable content with the reader/receiver firmly in mind. When it comes to developing content for the purpose of organizational use, I’ll share three examples of my work at Anchor Church.

The first is a Middle School Journal that I developed as an endeavor to broaden the scope of our demographic. This was an eighteen-month process from idea to implementation, and it went through a few rough prototypes:) Eventually, I researched and found the webware necessary to turn this small three-ring binder into a more streamlined, aesthetically appealing product. The contents include three color-coded sections: sermon notes, devotional notes, and prayer requests, each of which I designed the questions for and shaped the direction of.

The second is both an online and printed resource. With each new year we launched a church-wide learning initiative. For 2016 I developed a Psalms reading plan, available as a printed leaflet as well as online at the Anchor website (click the image below) and the Anchor app (both of which link directly to the Psalm for that week). The purpose of this resource is to read the same psalm for a week, gleaning new discoveries and truths from these rich texts. Many years ago I saw a church launch a similar campaign, only it included every psalm (there are 150 of them in the Bible!) and stretched for the duration of 3 years! The endeavor never made it that long, succumbing to the burden of its own ambition:) So my intent was to select 52 Psalms that were both accessible and yet provided a true and balanced sampling of the emotions and experiences of these authors. The list went through several revisions, and the other Elders weighed in on the selection so that I was not creating this in isolation. The result has been a resource that has been unifying, accessible, and edifying for a local congregation!

Finally, I’ll share a resource I developed and implemented for Anchor Church’s first ever internship program. In 2015 we had several college students actively involved in our ministry. That spring two of them approached us with a request for summer internships. We had never received such a request and therefore had no such program developed. But not for long! I pulled from several personal leadership resources and created a strategic plan to serve as our Ministerial Internship Program. The students were delighted, and I was equally invigorated to spend the summer pouring into them!